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Electronic Transcripts

The Eastern District of Wisconsin follows the Judicial Conference policy on the electronic availability of transcripts.

Effective May 1, 2008, transcripts of proceedings before the United States District Judges and Magistrate Judges in the Eastern District of Wisconsin will be filed with the Court in electronic format. Electronic transcripts, once ordered by a party or attorney and produced by the court reporter or transcriber, will be e-filed and available for viewing at the Clerk’s Office public terminals in Milwaukee and Green Bay, but may not be copied or reproduced for a period of 90 days. If there are no redactions to be made, the restrictions will be removed after the 90 day period. The transcript will then be available remotely to view, download or print from PACER at $.08 cents per page or from the Clerk’s Office public terminals at a rate of $.10 cents per page. Requests for copies of the transcript during this 90 day period of restriction must be made directly with the court reporter or transcriber who prepared the transcript. Once an attorney on the case has purchased a transcript, the attorney will be given access to the transcript through the court’s ECF system.

This will apply to all transcripts of proceedings ordered on or after this date, regardless of when the proceeding took place. Please read this policy carefully. This policy establishes a procedure for counsel to request the redaction from the transcript of specific personal data identifiers before the transcript is made electronically available to the general public.

Counsel are strongly urged to share this Notice with all clients so that an informed decision about the inclusion of certain materials may be made. The responsibility for redacting personal identifiers rests solely with counsel and the parties. The Clerk and Court Reporter will not review each transcript for compliance with this rule.

Whenever an official transcript of a proceeding has been filed by the court reporter or transcriber, a Notice of Filing of Official Transcript will be served on all parties in the case. If necessary, a party must file a Notice of Intent to Request Redaction (sample attached) within 7 business days of the filing of the transcript by the court reporter. If redactions are requested, a party must file with the court and serve on the court reporter or transcriber, within 21 days of the filing of the transcript, or longer is the court so orders, a Redaction Statement (sample attached) indicating where the personal identifiers appear in the transcript by page and line and how they are to be redacted. For example, if a party wanted to redact the Social Security number 123-45- 6789 appearing on page 12, line 9 of the transcript the statement would read: Redact the Social Security number 123-45-6789 on page 12, line 9 to read xxx-xx-6789. Access to this Redaction Statement will be restricted to the Court and the attorneys of record in the case.

Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the party must review the following portions of the transcript:

• opening and closing statements made on the party’s behalf;
• statements of the party;
• the testimony of any witnesses called by the party;
• sentencing proceedings; and
• any other portion of the transcript as ordered by the court.

Only the following personal identifiers listed by the Judicial Conference in its policy on the Electronic Availability of Transcripts may be redacted using the Redaction Statement:

• Social Security numbers to the last four digits;
• financial account numbers to the last four digits;
• names of minor children to the initials;
• dates of birth to the year; and
• home addresses to the city and state (applicable in criminal cases only).

If a party wants to request further redactions, that party should file a Motion to Redact Transcript which will be served on all parties and the court reporter within the 21-day period. The transcript will not be electronically available until the Court has ruled on any such motion. The court reporter or transcriber must, within 31 calendar days of the filing of the transcript with the clerk, or longer by order of the Court, perform the redactions and file the redacted transcript with the Clerk of Court.

Note: Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the voir dire transcripts will not be filed as part of the public record.

Counsel appointed pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act may claim compensation, at the applicable rate, for the time spent reviewing the transcript and preparing the Notice of Intent to Redact and Redaction Statement as well as for costs associated with obtaining a copy of the transcript.